1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hybrid vehicle and a control method for the same and, more particularly, to a hybrid vehicle that is provided with a shutter and a control method for the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A shutter, which is disposed in a front grille in the front of a vehicle, is used to adjust the amount of air outside the vehicle which is introduced into the vehicle during the traveling and to adjust the cooling capacity of devices such as the engine in the engine compartment. When the shutter is in a closed state, the amount of the air that is introduced into the vehicle is decreased, and thus air resistance is reduced. When the shutter is in the closed state, a reduction in the temperature of the engine is suppressed while the engine is stopped, and thus the amount of fuel consumption for engine warm-up is reduced. In this manner, fuel economy can be improved by appropriately controlling the opening and closing of the shutter.
In addition, a configuration has been proposed in which the shutter is controlled in accordance with the temperature of the engine so as to ensure that the engine is kept within an appropriate temperature range. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-98596 discloses a hybrid car in which the shutter is controlled so as to regulate the flow of air between the inside of the engine compartment and the outside of the car when the engine temperature is lower than a predetermined reference temperature.